Showing posts with label cover letter software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cover letter software. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Can a Resume Writing Service Write Your Cover Letter?

Many job applicants use a resume writing service to write their resume from scratch or to improve their current resume. I don't see anything wrong with this with one BIG exception. I strongly discourage my clients from using such a service to create their cover letter.

Here's why...

Although most resume writing services offer cover letter creation as an add on service or even throw it in for free, they are almost never exceptionally adept at doing so.

The cover letter is the very first thing a hiring manager is going to see. In fact, many hiring managers don't bother to read all the resumes they get when they have a lot of applications for a single job. They go through the pile and narrow it down based on the cover letter alone.

What does this mean?

The cover letter is often more important than the resume in getting you on the "short list" and getting you the interview.

Creating an exceptional professional resume requires a different skill set than preparing an exceptional cover letter. Yes, the better resume writing services are skilled writers but they are more adept at technical writing than with writing advertising copy.

And... to get on the short list in this competitive job market what you need is exceptional advertising copy. You need marketing language with a call to action. You need language in a 1/2 to 3/4 page cover letter (with lots of white space) to succinctly sell YOU and convince the hiring manager that he or she needs to meet you in person. You need time tested marketing magic.

This is why I always recommend to my clients that they use the cover letter software that I review at the top of this page to create their cover letter, even if they have hired a professional resume writing service. For those who do both and end up with 2 cover letters to compare side by side, they always choose, without exception, the cover letter that is created with this particular software (there is other cover letter creating software out there but I've never found one that worked as well as this one).

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Cover Letter Help Is On the Way

I work at a career center where I help people in their job search. One of the most important things I've learned is that it's the cover letter, not the resume, that is the single most important factor to getting called for an interview. Therefore, I concentrate much of my effort doing everything I can to give job applicants cover letter help. Recruiters, HR personnel, and business managers all get so many resumes they have to very quickly go through the stack and make some super quick decisions to create two piles. The bigger pile consists of the discards. The smaller pile consists of the resumes that were accompanied by really GREAT cover letters that caught their attention. Notice I said great cover letters, not good cover letters, and not even very good cover letters. You must have a GREAT cover letter to compete well these days and that is nearly impossible to write on your own. Even people who are very smart and very well educated can't write a cover letter in a style that is going to motivate most hiring managers to call them in for an interview. In fact, most educated people usually write rather boring cover letters that are sure to get their resume thrown into the discard pile.

Most of the large companies have already downsized a good deal and they're looking for ways to downsize some more. The small to medium businesses really can't afford to hire more people because of how uncertain the future economy is now. They are in therefore in a holding pattern and that means they are not hiring. That means that there are way more people applying for jobs than there are open job positions. The job market has gotten so tight it is scary in fact. At the career center, I see people all the time who are used to living a very nice lifestyle not even being able to buy groceries for their children.

If you want to compete in this extremely competitive job market, you'd be a fool not to take every step you can to give yourself an advantage. You've got to be in the top 1% of the job applicants if you want to guarantee you'll get a job in this tight market.  I highly recommend obtaining a really good cover letter software package that can help you write a killer cover letter.  Click here for the package I recommend above all the others. It will give you better cover letter help than most professional job coaches. That's why I recommend it to all my clients. The reason it is so good is it was developed by a guru of marketing whose job was to write sales copy designed to maximize profit by motivating people to buy products and services. He is the king of successfully motivating people to a specific action such as buying a certain product or getting the hiring manager to call you in for an interview. He is in high demand because his sales letters perform better than any others in the industry. He just has a way with words that a powerful almost hypnotic effect on people. It's marketing magic. He has applied this extraordinary ability to his cover letter software. This software is so powerful I have seen it produce amazing results. I've worked with many people who were not getting any response at all from sending in their resumes and cover letters. Then, they get this software and use it to generate a cover letter that knocks it out of the park. Voila. All of a sudden, they start getting invited to interview for jobs. They say money can't buy happiness. Well, for $39.95 I've seen this cover letter software send people shrieking for joy. If you are job hunting, I'm sure it could provide cover letter help for you too.

Amazing Cover Letter Creator - One Key Factor That Makes It Work

I forgot to mention before one key factor that makes "Amazing Cover Letter Creator" it work so well. One of the questions it asks you is what type of profession. This can be education, insurance business, office management, etc, etc... The key here is that Jim Sweeney has built into his cover letter software program the essential keywords and key phrases that are used in each industry and then he beautifully merges these keywords with his own marketing magic words which of course is the recipe for making the hiring manager go, "WOW, I've really got to get this person in here for an interview!"